Who Should Lead Pakatan Rakyat?

I've added a new category on political opinions since I figured that they may be more political ideas that I can gather from now on. Credits on this post I would give to my usual political contributors which is Sdr. Ainul Aizat, Sdr. Nimalan as well as a new comer which is Sdr. Gajendran. Thanks guys!

The members of Pakatan Rakyat. Who should lead?

Let me be clear that I am NOT a Pakatan Rakyat supporter, which I have obviously made it clear from my previous post. However, I believe that for the purpose of intellectual discussion of an issue, one must be able to discuss any political topic without support biasness. Once again a quick reminder, this post is not to generate political hate, but merely to collect opinions from the general public.

The Big Three of Pakatan Rakyat

With my discussion with the boys, I've wondered with the creation of the relatively new coalition, surely there will be an issue as to who would actually take the lead it, as agreed by the members of the coalition and we've come up with quite interesting issues on this matter.

For me as well as Aizat personally, we argued that the helm of the coalition should be to the party with the most experience in the business. Set aside the political drama that goes on, lets look at it in a logical process of elimination. Between the member parties, PAS as well as DAP are the only one that can actually say they have experience on running a particular state, Kelantan for the matter of PAS and Penang for the matter of DAP. If we are really looking at the coalition trying to run the country, we should then assess the track record of the parties involved and therefore, I based my arguments on this matter. While we have DAP have built a solid support over the years, I believe that they still lack the trust among the general public to actually run a country. If their main notion is to run the country as Malaysia for Malaysian, unfortunately that most people, particularly the Malays, would not want them to lead the country as a whole.

Now we have PAS, who may in the past have shown many flaws within their policies over the years but are the only one that can actually show the best track record of running a state between the three. Of course, the other three parties would also argue that they too have their own track record but not as long as compared to PAS. They put forth to their supporters over the years of the economic, political and social policies in every campaign and therefore making their supporters more aware of their intention of running the state. Perhaps under these circumstances, I would honestly feel that PAS has the better bargain in their bid to lead Pakatan Rakyat entirely.

Nimalan gave a very interesting view on the matter which was supported by Gajendran, that there should not be a lead within the coalition as the party should run on a "power sharing scheme" based on trust as well as awareness. His arguments were that since the entire coalition has been built of the notion of trust between the three parties, why should there be a party that tries to out step the others in the coalition. Their main focus should be pursuing a policy that ALL of the members agree upon and having one party to lead the coalition would only shape a possible disproportionate policy between the three parties. By having a party to lead the coalition would remove the "check and balance" system in which the coalition have been fighting for all this time.

So, what do you guys think? I would love to see more opinions of people on this matter. Please keep your language in check people and strictly no cowards who want to post their comments anonymously. You want to have a voice, make sure you put a pretty little face to that voice.

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comments:

1. "Now we have PAS, who may in the past have shown many flaws within their policies over the years..." Pls qualify "flaws in policies over the years". This is a sweeping statement otherwise.

2. "... but [PAS are] the only one that can actually show the best track record of running a state between the three." I find this a misleading statement considering that the other 2 Pakatan component parties had never single handedly win a state (let alone govern one) prior to GE2008! I think you are better off saying that PAS is the ONLY one who HAS a track record, end of story.

3. "If their main notion is to run the country as Malaysia for Malaysians, unfortunately that most people, particularly the Malays, would not want them to lead the country as a whole." May it be that the DAP is currently made up of Chinese majority, there is nothing precluding that a Malay cannot join the party, let alone be its party leader (although he/she is more likely to be labled a "pengkhianat bangsa"!).

In my opinion, if there is to be a leader for PR, it should be a person who personifies the coalition, as simple as that. Only when you have a yin-and-yang situation with 2 competing political parties can PR be most effective in showing itself as a true "alternative" via a simple mirroring of the BN down to its leadership structure. I think that the majority of the electorate are simple people; you don't need to over complicate things!

coming from once "P" party held states before got hijacked by BN.It's going to get messy and difficult for rakyat coz we are going to be cannon fodder for both sides since each hell bent on KO ASAP bef next general election

PS:P party currently does not have a suitable or right leader yet to lead plus DSAI got lotsa legal issue to solve

DAP is not an exclusive party for Chinese and Indians only. This is the problem with Malaysian, still stuck with racial slurs and dividing on out mentality. I believe there are a handful small Malay members in DAP. Of course, if one Malay openly claiming that he is from DAP, guess what will the goons from UMNO or any Malay will called the person?

PAS in the past have been vocal about forming an Islamic state that creates controversial even to UMNO and BN. I have to agree on some point that while PAS was the only party to have rule a state prior to 2008GE. In fact, our old mentality about PAS have begin to sway away. Ask any non-Malay in Kelantan how PAS has been ruling the state. THE REASON why UMNO can't wrestled in that state for 20 years.

PKR is relatively radical in my opinion. I'm not surprise that the party is in dilemma. MPs and state reps are leaving, but it doesn't show the true voice of the Malaysian. PKR has once indulged in crisis too back in 2004 but they came back strong in 2008. Perhaps, it is time to dump those relatively useless peoples that only goes for money.

So IMHO, the formation of Pakatan Rakyat is really an alternative. The best person to lead is still DSAI. No matter how much trouble he is embroiled in, one cannot discount his credibility. I have live long enough not to believe in mainstream media or anything that has been in my understanding, a one-sided report.

*Note: i don't support BN or PR. I am a centralist though i'm a little inclined to PR

honestly, PKR is like a 3-headed dragon/snake (or whatever fictional animal you like). They appear to be 1. Act like they are 1 but really, they are 3 separate parties coming together to make up the numbers and thus, strength.

Your point about 'power-sharing'? Noted. But its unrealistic simply because 'too many cooks spoil the soup'. There can only be ONE leader, ONE direction. Otherwise, its like the 3 headed dragon - fighting over who gets the piece of cake.

All I can say is that if PKR wins the next GE, the leader of PKR is highly likely to sway the entire party to their value system (and accordingly to whichever component of PKR he belongs too).

I would say Anwar..if not of him, we would not see PAS and DAP shaking hands and working together..He is the key man in the coalition or otherwise these two parties would have not thrown support for him to retain as Opposition Leader despite having lesser parliamentary seat..one must be noted PKR as well as PR is a new born baby..and they are yet to be fully vaccinated..they do get troubles occasionally by bacteria or virus..sooner or later, when they had injected enough vaccine, they will grow stronger coupled with own antibody production or own strength (with the leaving of those jumping ship frogmnan/ frogwomen)

I would say DAP should lead. Although DAP still can't get the support from the Malays but I believe that young Malays who are more 'open minded' are able to accept DAP for democracy. They will need more time.PKR has too many problems! PAS may not gained the support from the Chinese and Indians if the party stressed on Islam.